Eternal Fire
by Flamewind
Summary: /Part 3 of 3/ Moltres was always considered the noblest of his siblings. Maybe they were right... /Oneshot/


Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

**Eternal Fire**

_You are free._

_Free…_

I have waited a long time to hear that simple phrase. But it's too bad that I am the first one to breath free again, when one of us did not need to be locked up at all…

I am speaking of Articuno.

Articuno. My beautiful sister, Articuno. The same Articuno who will no longer speak to me, who spends all her time locked in a perpetual argument with herself. That Articuno.

I have heard from Mew that she has never left her bubble of ice.

I have also heard Zapdos has tried to fake his way out of his punishment.

And I want Zapdos to know that if I ever seen him again… no. I will not sink to his level of petty threats. If I ever seen him again, he will know what will happen. It's what he has always wanted, anyway. A battle to the death.

Perhaps that's being too blunt. But I've always been told that I am the most blunt of my siblings. It comes with my element: fire. Fire must be stubborn to survive, and that was mostly how I was given my element.

There was never a need for another wielder of flames. My mother, the great Ho-oh, has already taken care of that role. I am, for the most part, just around to replace her should anything happen. Nothing has happened.

That has led me to the real purpose I serve. The flames that make up my body bring light to even the darkest night. It's surprising how much others appreciate a little light in their life.

My fire has found another purpose, as an inspiration. It was what set me free in the first place, the donation of part of my flames to the Kantonian human coliseum and the Forest of Life, Celebi's home. Clearly, I can see the forest's trees and the Pokemon battling in the coliseum. The two images are at the back of my vision, to be called upon at will. I have not completely mastered the control over them yet. And true, my fire doesn't burn as bright anymore, but the sacrifice was worth it.

Now that I'm free, there's something that I must do. It's Articuno… I must make her see sense. She was given the easiest task—learn to care for others and see them as her equal. She has already done that. All she needs to do is prove it.

Articuno's ice bubble wasn't placed far from my own prison. It's just a short flight there, if I can remember the way…

The sun was beginning to rise above the horizon as I set off for the Seafoam Islands. It lit up the water below in fiery colors to match my own body.

But I really wasn't thinking of the view as I flew, I was thinking of Articuno… and Zapdos.

It is Zapdos' fault this has happened to us. He got my innocent sister imprisoned, and me, as well. I suppose I was given the lightest sentence since I was trying to break up the fight—cooking Zapdos in the process—but the battle still ended badly. Articuno had taken a serious head injury, and hadn't had time to heal it before she was locked in her ice bubble.

There's no doubt in my mind that that's what has caused her to become mentally unstable. It wasn't so bad in the beginning, we still talked over the mental link Mew allowed us, and ignored Zapdos snarling in the background. But Articuno got progressively more reserved, getting irritated if we talked for too long, until finally she just wanted me to leave her alone. I've honored her wish, though it has pained me. Now I must go back on it, for her sake.

The Seafoam Islands are directly under me, right where I remembered them. But the issue would be to get to Articuno—she was hidden in a small valley, and her ice bubble would blend right in with the snow. As for snow, the first couple flakes have started to fall, fizzling off my flames harmlessly.

I swooped down towards the islands, scanning the area. But the little light passing through the clouds I could see a crevice that looked promising on the smaller of the two islands. At first I was surprised to catch a color that differed from the uniform white, a sickly yellow, which looked oddly familiar to me. As I came closer to it, I saw, with shock, that it was Zapdos and the color was the pulse of electricity around him. _Zapdos _was headed for Articuno as well!

Next to Zapdos was an even smaller glimmer of pink, which detached from its place beside my brother and came towards me. Mew, of course, must've already known I was in the area. _"Would you care to join us?" _She offered, flying circles around me with ease.

I heard Zapdos's scratchy voice call, _"Mew!"_

"_Of course," _I growled the next instant, irritated just by the sound of my brother's voice, but that might've been the eternal anger I felt at him flaring up.

I followed the other two at a distance. Zapdos must've seen me, but he made no motion of it. He couldn't afford to be hostile now, on one of the only days he would get of freedom.

Mew led the way down into a valley, covered in what I could only make out as a thick layer of snow and ice. And in the middle of the valley, was a bubble of ice. Inside its walls, crusted over with several years' worth of frost, was a bird of blue plumage, curled up as tightly as possible with her eyes screwed shut. She didn't even stir when Mew tapped on the shell of ice.

_Go away. Leave me be. Leave me in silence._

Articuno spoke through her mind in little more than a whisper. Her body remained motionless. _"Articuno," _my brother spoke up. _"It's Zapdos, remember me? Won't you please come out… sister?"_

_I wish to stay here._

"_Can't you just break the shield?" _Zapdos addressed Mew, a touch of his temper making the question hostile.

The feline shook her head, _"Articuno must have some rational knowledge of our presence, but there's a part of her mind that is not with her anymore. As long as she's not completely clear minded and wants to stay in the bubble, she stays. Although…" _She sent a glance back in my direction. My brother's pointed beak went up, and his head slowly craned around. The glare he sent my way was challenging, and a bolt of lightning crossed over his back. For the moment, I ignored him.

_Articuno,_ I spoke directly to her mind. _Please… don't be like this. _

The effect was immediate, the icy blue bird's plumage ruffled. Her head raised and eyes snapping open, she looked directly at me and murmured something indistinctly.

Zapdos did something I didn't expect of him. Emitting a cry, he exhaled, and several bolts of lightning shot off from his form, most curving around and striking the bubble of ice directly, though a few of them were aimed at me. Mew reacted quickly, the bolts coming my way were deflected, but he was at too close a range for her to protect the bubble. _"Behold the power of Ho-oh's true son!" _He roared.

Electrified, Articuno's prison still appeared unscathed for a few moments, before it began to crack visibly. Thick chunks of ice fell away from it, until Articuno was fully visible. She fell into an ungraceful pile at the feet of Zapdos and he lifted a talon, which froze there.

"_You're going to have to return now," _Mew said with anger developing in her voice, her eyes glittering blue like the aura that had formed around him. He cried in pain when more electricity was extracted from him forcefully and morphed into a few thin glowing rings to surround him.

I shook my head; he just _couldn't _resist a chance to be locked up for even longer! As I passed him, on my way towards Articuno, I heard a deep chuckle rise from him as he bowed his head. _"Something I can't believe," _he murmured. _"Is that you actually think this will hold me." _Spreading his wings, Zapdos made as much contact with the cage as he possibly could. The force field Mew had placed on the inside rippled, no doubt sending waves of pain through him.

It was a trick he probably practiced in his long hours locked away. As he pushed harder and harder on the shield, the tips of his wings just barely brushed the spinning rings of electricity. Regaining control of them, he caused them to spin towards Mew's lithe shape. She was at close range, something that proved bad when dealing with Zapdos. Though it probably didn't do much damage, Mew was stunned for long enough to have the shield dissolve.

Zapdos turned to me, _"Well, brother. Fancy meeting you again," _his eyes flashed, and static crackled from him. My flames blazed even brighter in response.

"_It's been a while," _I replied, fanning my wings out. _"I hope you're ready to have your miserable hide destroyed."_

"_We'll see who will be doing the destroying," _he returned haughtily. We both took to the air, leaving Mew and Articuno behind. Mew watched us go, but said nothing. I don't think I'd ever figure out what was going through her mind at that point.

_Don't._

The voice, Articuno's, came as a surprise. It was clearer than before, and didn't have the note of uncertainty that my sister had come to have, as if she was speaking with only part of her heart. This time it sounded like she was speaking with all of it.

Lightning streaked from the clouds, pulled towards Zapdos who absorbed the energy. I realized the battle was skewed to his advantage, though as long as he didn't alter the weather to rain instead of snow, I would be alright. My brother was first to attack, though he did so at a distance, testing my abilities. He'd improved from before, and so had I.

I flamed at the bolt of electricity, where they met an explosion went off. In my mind, I could hear Articuno wail: _No, don't fight! Stop fighting!_

She distracted me for a moment, and the next thing I knew, water was sizzling all around me. I could hardly see, except for the bright flash that was Zapdos attacking again. It raced across the water so fast there was no way I could avoid it. My retaliating flame died in the rain.

Zapdos didn't stop discharging energy. I writhed in pain, blinded by water, and didn't even realized my wings had stopped beating. Then the attack stopped. Air whirled around my form, stinging the almost-numb limbs. When I realized I was falling, I righted in the air and beat my wings, slowly and painfully making the way back up to where I could vaguely distinguish a yellow blur that wasn't even sparking. As I came closer, the rain turned back to heavy snow, revealing a glowing form next to him.

Zapdos had his wing points coated in ice. He was flying at the other form, attacking it with his beak. The other form, blue beyond a sparkling silver shield, was none other than Articuno. She'd saved me.

"_We shouldn't fight," _Articuno spoke aloud, her voice breaking in places from not being used in many years. She narrowly dodged another one of Zapdos's attacks. "_We are siblings."_

"_I don't see why that should change anything," _Zapdos snarled. He dove at her and shattered her shield with his beak. It sank deep into Articuno's chest, and with a piteous cry of pain, she crumpled and fell back to earth.

Zapdos turned to me, his expression victorious. His beak was stained completely red. I felt enraged at the foul bird. I finally felt as he must've all his life—like I wanted to kill my own brother, what I'd called rage before on my part was nothing. _"You're next," _he said, surging forward. The space between us was shrinking; there was only a few seconds for me to respond… my wings felt heavy, though I forced them to keep me aloft. Throwing back my head, I focused my anger, my hate, all my emotions into one blast of fire that struck Zapdos right in the face.

He flailed in the air, screaming. I watched him swerve all over the air, still screaming incoherently.

I watched Zapdos at the weakest he'd ever been… and decided not to kill him.

Several things spurred this decision. For one thing, I realized that, if I were the one in Zapdos's position and he was in mine, I would surely be dead. I know I'm a better bird than Zapdos, and killing him would be sinking to his level.

Perhaps this means that the rivalry Zapdos felt from me was mostly one-sided. He was the middle child, and the smallest, after all. Must've hurt his pride.

I returned to the valley, while his screeching had turned to a string of rather foul curses. I found Articuno laying still, her wings splayed, with a patch of red around the wound. But Mew was beside her, and looked up at me with clear eyes as I landed. _"Is she…?" _

"_No," _Mew asserted. _"The attack missed her vital organs and I managed to stop the bleeding. She will be okay. But…" _she looked up.

"_I had to," _I murmured.

"_No, it's understandable."_

"_Why didn't you stop us, Mew?"_

Mew surprised me by mewing a laugh, _"Sometimes, Moltres, lessons have to be learned the hard way."_

The hard way. She laughed when I groaned.

A shadow flickered over Mew's eyes when I sat down closer to my sister. _"Zapdos did a lot for your sister, you know," _she said. _"I believe that she's proven herself. And her sanity appears to be restored, or at least on its way to being so…"_

Mew glanced upwards again and held up her paw. Zapdos was teleported to the ground and was still enough for me to see the damage—the upper portion of his head was completely charred. He cursed once more and his talons shifted and gripped the loose snow beneath him. _"Mew?" _

"_Yes."_

"_Do I have to go back to Thunder Mountain?" _

"_No. I have a better punishment for you," _she said calmly. Nodding to me, she murmured, _"Can you get Articuno back to your old home?" _When I replied to the affirmative, she added: _"Good. I'll meet you there at sunset, call me if you need me sooner." _Mew floated over to Zapdos and put a paw to his shoulder. In a flash of blue, they were teleported away.

I looked over to Articuno. She had opened her eyes, and was staring upwards. _"I forgot how beautiful the sky was when it snowed," _she whispered when she realized she had my attention. _"It isn't just white. The snowflakes are like little sparkles. And they make sound too, not very loud sound, but just a little when they touch the ground."_

I looked up at the sky and scowled. All I saw was white on white. _"My head hurts," _she added. _"And so does my chest. Mew mentioned… you taking me to your home, right? That's what she said, right?"_

"_Yes," _I nodded. _"But I'm going to have to carry you there. Unless you can fly."_

Articuno's eyes crossed, _"I don't know. I don't think so."_

Carrying her would be a little bit of a problem, but I could manage it. I could deflect my flames from her; it was something I had learned how to control. However awkward the flight would be, it would be short. And it was.

Articuno has two scars on her body, one along the back of her head, and the puncture mark on her chest. Though she never seemed completely like the Articuno I remembered, she no longer had conversations with herself. After her chest healed, she chose to live in the Seafoam Islands, where she could be in her own element. We visit each other from time to time.

Things have not changed in the human coliseum at all. Pokemon battle there all the time, if I ever become bored, I can watch them. But in the Forest of Life, it's a different story. Mew took Zapdos there, where he cannot fly without hitting branches and cannot attack anything without being severely punished by Celebi, who agreed to take care of him. After all, a blind bird cannot hunt.

As for me, I choose to leave my home every once in a while at dusk, mostly to stretch my wings. Every blue moon I may come across a human in the mountains who has lost his or her way. I use the flames that burn brightly on my body as a light to guide them down by. After all, everyone appreciates a little light in their life. It is the purpose I serve to bring some to them. Unfortunately for Zapdos, the light has gone out forever.


End file.
